Archive for August, 2007

It was a fairy-tale come to life. I was 8 years old and living in England when Lady Diana became the Princess of Wales. The dress, the horse-drawn carriages, the massive cathedral — they added up to any little girl’s dream of Cinderella come to life. Only later, as a grown-up, would I read and understand that a princess can live a hard life. I would come to realize this princess was far from perfect, but hearing about her eating disorders and marital problems just made her all the more real.

But what really stands out, from her life and now 10 years after her death, is the way she parented her sons. Sure, they’ve made their share of mistakes. What kids haven’t? When it’s all said and done, however, Princes William and Harry speak eloquently, give of themselves through charity, have served in the military with dignity and perhaps most impressively, have come to accept their father’s second wife, Camilla, with more than just civility. Their ability to be so welcoming is selfless, exactly what you’d expect from the sons of Princess Diana.

Actually, the blasted little bugs are everywhere and it only takes a mention to send most of us into fits of itching. As anyone with kids in an East Bay school knows, lice outbreaks are as much a classroom tradition as Halloween parades and Chinese New Year fetes. Now one enterprising Lafayette mom has turned nit-picking into a business venture with Love Bugs Salon.

She could have saved our family considerable angst if she’d been in business a few years ago, when our neighborhood was so roiled by a lice outbreak at our elementary school, people were actually calling each other every time another kid was sent home with the dreaded bugs. We could not stop itching. Louse-ophobia, you see, has the exact same symptoms…

I need to confess a guilty parenting pleasure: I can’t stop reading about celebrities and their children.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I scoured magazines comparing my quickly expanding girth to stars due around the same time. When I found out that Kate Hudson packed on 60 pounds with Ryder, I gloated that I only gained about 45 with Lacy. When it came time to lose “the baby weight,” as Hollywood likes to call any extra poundage on a famous mother’s body postpartum, I sadly knew that without a personal cook and trainer, it would take me WAY longer than a few weeks to slim down after my second child. It took two years, actually! Sigh.

So now I can’t keep my eyes off the family known around the world — the brood of Brad and Angelina. Articles come out daily quoting “unnamed sources close to the family” detailing the disasters of their tagteam parenting of four kids under age 6. How Pax, 2, is up constantly at night. How they’re not getting enough sleep. How they — GASP — are too tired to be intimate. Read all you want at this Brad and Angelina site.

Hel-lo!!! Welcome to the real world Mr. Pitt and Ms. Jolie, of millions of everyday mommies and daddies. “What the heck were ya thinking it would be like!”, I’m sure many of us regular folk want to yell.

A Colorado elementary school has joined a half dozen other schools in banning the game of tag from recess. Running is OK, so long as you’re not chasing anyone. (And let’s face it, kids only run if there’s a purpose – to catch someone or something.) The decision came after some children complained about being harassed or chased against their will.

Banning tag at recess isn’t a new phenomenon. The first reported ban occurred in 2005. Since then, some elementary schools have added contact sports, such as soccer and touch football, to the no-no list. Schools follow this Trouble-Free Playground program as a means to reduce “squabbles.” Trying to protect children is understandable, even commendable, but striking tag, chase and 90 percent of sports from a kid’s recess repertoire seems too over the top.

We hear one of the big TV studios is looking for Alpha Moms for a new reality show, and we can only wonder about the premise, particularly given the casting parameters. They’re looking for SoCal moms with tight abs and gorgeous gams, who “made pregnant sexy – and bounced back in record time.” They want highly social, well-to-do women who think nothing of calling “any Neiman’s in the country to get THAT stroller” and who spend more on their kid’s birthday fete than a family vacation. Um, this is a reality show? We’re picturing a combination of “Stepford Wives” and “My Super Sweet 16 Months.”

School headlines you may have missed this week… Some 22 Heritage High students were suspended after a protest against the Brentwood school’s red shirt ban turned riotous. West Contra Costa students face a future without counselors, librarians and touchdowns, after a parcel tax measure failed yesterday. A College Park student is still in serious condition after she was hit by an SUV as she walked to school Monday. Alameda schools are instituting a new wellness policy that mixes nutrition with curriculum. And Byron school officials are trying to boost enrollment by wooing new students with ice cream sundaes.

We’re looking for American Girl girls – Felicity fans, Molly mavens and devotees of the historic-era doll series – for an upcoming Times story. If that description fits you or someone you know, drop us a line or pick up the phone, 925-977-8568.
- Jackie Burrell